Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The main developments of one of Formula 1's most prestigious races were:

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the title despite the victory to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his title hopes wane

• A superb victory for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th following beginning at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his race, essentially questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to start third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life